15 Best Universities To Study Agricultural Extension In Canada

Best Universities To Study Agricultural Extension In Canada-You cannot mention major fields in agriculture without including agricultural extension. It is very important in the growth of the agricultural sector.

One of the major challenges with agriculture is illiteracy as most of the farmers are used to the use of obsolete farm practices and the use of crude implements.

This is why the agricultural extension workers come in. They are in charge of teaching farmers on the new agricultural practices and policies; they also teach farmers how to use modern farm machineries.

The agricultural extension worker enlightens farmers on how they can improve output by using modern farm practices and managing their farms efficiently.

Agriculture extension is one of the agricultural courses offer in a lot of universities across Canada and it is a four years degree after which you can proceed to do your masters in agricultural economics and extension or some other agricultural extension courses.

In this article, we will be going through the universities in Canada that offer agricultural extension and also some other information you need to know about studying agricultural extension in Canada.

Without further ado, let’s proceed…

What Is Agricultural Extension?

According to Wikipedia, agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through educating farmers. It involves a wide range of communication and learning activities organized for rural people by educators from different disciplines like agriculture, agricultural marketing, health and business studies.

Agricultural extension workers could be found throughout the world and they do work for government agencies.

In a nutshell, extension is a service or system that assists farm people, through educational procedures in improving their farm methods and techniques so as to increase productivity, efficiency and income.

The agricultural extension workers assist farmers to help them identify and analyze their production problems and become aware of the opportunities for improvement.

Importance Of Agricultural Extension Education

Here are some of the benefits of agricultural extension to farmers and the rural community.

• Extension use democratic methods in educating the farmers
• Extension helps in adoption of innovations
• Extension helps in studying and solving the rural problems
• Extension increases farm yields and improve the standard of living of farmers
• Extension makes good communities better and progressive
• Extension contributes to national development programmes

Universities Offering Agricultural Extension In Canada

Here are some of the universities in Canada that offer agricultural extension under agricultural sciences.

• University of Guelph
• University of British Columbia
• McGill University
• University of Alberta
• University of Saskatchewan
• University of Toronto
• University of Manitoba
• Dalhousie University
• Laval University

• Dalhousie University

This is a large public research university that is located in Nova Scotia and it was established in 1818. The university has three campuses in Halifax, one in Bible Hill and a second medical school in Saint John, New Brunswick.

After its establishment in 1818, it didn’t hold its first class until 1838.

Dalhousie University is ranked number 317 on the list of best universities in the world, number 12 in Canada and 213 best universities for agricultural sciences and has a total enrollment 16,077 students and the international students are around 4,497.

Before the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) merged with Dalhousie University to become the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture, it was the oldest centre for agricultural education and research in Canada.

The University offers Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and also offers M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural courses including agricultural extension.

For more information about how to study agricultural extension at Dalhousie University, visit: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/agriculture/

• University of Manitoba

This is a Canadian public research university that was established in 1877 and it is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The university is the first university of western Canada.

It is the largest university in Manitoba and the 17th largest in Canada. The university’s main campus is located in the Fort Garry neighborhood of southern Winnipeg.

The university is ranked number 387 on the list of best universities in the world, 15 in Canada and 147 on the list of best universities for agricultural sciences.

University of Manitoba has a total enrollment of 28,888 students with 5,540 being international students.

The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences was develop to use people and ideas in support of providing food, bio-resources and services that will benefit the society, the environment and the agri-food sector.

The faculty prepares you for career that fits your passion whether you want to work with animals, managing crops, developing a new food product or promoting human health through nutrition.

It offers undergraduate programs in agribusiness, agroecology, food science, human nutritional sciences and other fields in agriculture.

They offer graduate programs in agribusiness and agricultural economics, animal science, biosystems engineering, entomology, food and human nutritional sciences, agricultural extension and communication, plant science and soil science.

For more information about agricultural extension course at the University of Manitoba, visit: https://umanitoba.ca/agricultural-food-sciences/

• University of Alberta

University of Alberta is a public research university that is located in Edmonton, Alberta and it was established in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford who was the first premier of Alberta.

The University is a Comprehensive Academic and Research University (CARU) which means that it offers a range of academic and professional programs that generally lead to undergraduate and graduate level degrees.

The university has campuses in Edmonton, an Augustana Campus in Camrose and a staff centre in downtown Calgary.

The University of Alberta is a major economic driver in Alberta and it has impacted the economy of Alberta and contributed five percent of the provinces gross domestic product.

The University of Alberta is ranked number 135 among the best universities in the world, number 5 in Canada and number 58 best universities in agricultural sciences according to USnews.

The Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences is home for all agricultural related courses at the university.

It offers undergraduate and graduate programs that challenge you to find solutions to real-life problems.

Here are some of the undergraduate programs offered by the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences:

• Bachelor of Science in Agriculture
• Bachelor of Science in Animal Health
• Bachelor of Science in Agricultural/Food Business Management
• Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Conservation Sciences
• Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies
• Bachelor of Science in Fashion Business Management
• Bachelor of Science in Forestry
• Bachelor of Science in  Forest Business Management
• Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology
• Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science

It also offers graduate degrees in different agricultural disciplines.

For more information about the agricultural courses and programs at the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Alberta, visit: https://www.ualberta.ca/agriculture-life-environment-sciences/

• University of British Columbia

This is a public research university, it was established in 1908 and it is one of the oldest universities in the province having two campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna. The main campus is located in Vancouver with a number of botanical and memorial gardens on campus.

The university is known as a worldwide centre for teaching and research and it has secured its place among the top 40 universities in the world on a regular basis.

It is ranked number 35 among the best universities in the world, number 2 in Canada and number 41 among the best universities for agricultural sciences.

The total number of enrolment at the university is around 56,921 students with about 19,262 international students.

The Faculty of Land and Food System is the home for all agricultural related courses at the University of British Columbia and it was established in 1914.

The academic and research programs focus on the relationships between land, food and natural resource use, both at a local level and global level.

The faculty offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in soil, water and air use, food security, nutrition, food safety, food economics, agriculture, viticulture, animal welfare, aquaculture and food microbiology.

For more information about the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia, visit: https://www.landfood.ubc.ca/

Final Note

Canada offers one of the best quality of educations in the world so if you are looking to study in Canada, then you shouldn’t think twice about it as you would get quality education at an affordable cost as the average tuition fees of some of the universities in Canada are cheaper than some other universities in the world.

We have shown you the list of universities offering agricultural extension in Canada and also talked about some of these universities offering agricultural extension in both graduate and undergraduate level in Canada and so you can see that pursuing a career in agricultural extension in Canada won’t be a bad idea as Canada has some of the best universities that offer this program in the world and their graduate employability rate is high too.

Reference

wikipedia.org – what is agricultural extension

usnews.com – best global universities for agricultural science in canada

coursehero.com – importance of agriculture extension

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